


this is love song number 23

by dimension



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/M, Modern AU, Nervous Bellamy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 03:56:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14824817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimension/pseuds/dimension
Summary: modern AU. Bellamy wants to date Clarke. Unfortunately, that means he has to ask her out.





	this is love song number 23

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Westside by The Kooks.
> 
> EDIT: Looking back on this I can see it has a lot of typo’s and is not very well written. But I’m gonna leave it up cause it was my first fic and I still like the idea of it. Just be aware going into it that it’s not quite up to standard lol.

‘ _How to ask your best friend out on a date?’_

Bellamy’s foot tapped unevenly against his worn carpet. He pressed the search button on his phone screen before he could change his mind.

His eyes swept the screen for helpful options but he came up empty.

His only options were a few WikiHow articles, but that was a low even he refused to stoop to.

Ridiculous. Not even the internet could help him.

Shaking his head, he closed out of the tab and cleared his history for the last hour.

Bellamy had a predicament: he did not want to ask Clarke Griffin out on a date.

That likely sounded misleading, but it was true. Of course, he wanted—maybe more than anything—to date Clarke Griffin. ‘Date’ would actually be putting it lightly. He would marry her today.

However, the problem lied within the asking. The nerve wrecking thought alone got his palms more clammy than he was willing to admit.

Asking girls out had never been a problem for him. Normally, he would ask and they would say yes or no. Either way, there were no hard feeling. He supposed he had never been interested in someone enough for the thought of rejection to scare him.

It was different with Clarke. He was in love with her. She was the love of his life. So, yeah, the thought of asking her out made him nervous.

For a while, he had hoped the situation would arise organically. He even thought she might ask _him_ out.

He dropped as many hints as he could. He brought her flowers during a stressful week. He offered to watch her devil cat for a few days while she was out of town.

And then, of course, there was one miserably awkward attempt at starting romance. Even thinking about it made Bellamy’s cheeks burn.

They were walking back to their cars after a night out. Since he had just spent a few hours with her, his infatuation was at an all time high. Something in him possessed him to grab her hand and intertwine their fingers.

She didn’t pull away, she just looked up at him with a soft smile.

Clarke and him had always been very touchy with each other. But it only ever fell within ‘friendship’ touches. Holding hands was something they had never done before.

In Bellamy’s mind, holding her hand was a gesture. He hoped it would open up the way for conversation about their relationship. But she never said anything. They simply kept walking.

From that day on he assumed she knew he was interested in her and was letting him down easy by not saying anything. He had given up on trying to initiate something more between them.

Then _it_ happened.

He wasn’t trying to listen in. Really. He wouldn’t do that. He respected Clarke’s privacy. The situation happened to come up naturally.

He was having a night in with Clarke. They were watching old sitcoms, the remains of their takeout layed forgotten on her coffee table. She was finishing some assignments while he graded homework. Her roommate Raven even joined them at some point.

 _It_ happened when he was coming back out from the restroom. He could hear them talking.

“Why don’t you just tell him?” Raven asked. Her naturally loud voice was perfectly audible to him, despite being down the hallway.

“Shh.” Clarke scolded. “Don’t talk so loud.”

“It’s clear he feels the same way.”

Clarke was silent for a moment. Bellamy’s conscience kicked in. He felt guilty for listening to a private conversation. When he started moving forward Clarke spoke again and he halted.

“I don’t know how to.” Clarke confessed. After a brief pause, she elaborated. “I’ve never had to.”

“You’ve never asked a person out?” Raven responded.

Bellamy’s heart picked up as he got a clearer understanding of the conversation. His feet were glued to the floor.

Could he be the person they were speaking about? He shouldn’t hope.

“I’ve never had to make the first move. Usually the other person asks me out, or its so clearly mutual that we kinda fall into the relationship.”

“Oh.”

“He’s so confident. I’ve seen him go straight up to girls and walk away with them a second later. He knows what he wants and he’s not afraid to go for it. If he wanted me, he would have tried by now.”

 _No._ Bellamy thought. _I’m too scared. I care about you too much. You’re nothing like the others._

He knew he shouldn’t assume they were speaking about him. But his heart was already speeding at the possibility that it could be.

With the temporary lull in the conversation he walked back in to their living room, giving no indication that he heard a thing.

—

After that day Bellamy knew, no matter how much it scared him, he would have to make the first move to be with Clarke.

When his attempt to google his problems proved useless, he decided to get advice from an actual human being.

Which brought him to where he currently was.

He knocked his first on the door three times and waited.

Half a minute later the dull beige door creaked open. Raven appeared on the other side, arms crossed and face neutral.

“Clarke’s not here.” Her voice was flat.

“I know.” Bellamy said. “Hello to you too.”

“What do you need?” She seemed skeptical.

“To talk. Can I come in?”

“I only have a few minutes.”

“I only _need_ a few minutes.”

After a second of contemplation she opened the door wider and gestured for him to enter.

He walked into the kitchen and leaned against a cabinet, but he didn’t speak. If he said this, he couldn’t go back from it.

“Get to it, Blake. I don’t have all day.”

Bellamy took a deep breath and stared at the floor.

“Hypothetically.” He spoke slow. “If I wanted to date Clarke… how should I go about it?”

He looked up to see Raven’s jaw had dropped and her eyebrows were raised. The corners of her mouth were turned up in a smile.

His cheeks flamed and he placed his hands over his eyes.

“Get that look off your face, Raven.” His words were muffled through his hands.

“I’m sorry, could you say that again? Maybe on recording? I think you just asked me how to ask Clarke out, but that can’t be true. I thought you two were destined to pine after each other for the rest of your lives.”

He should have knows this was a terrible idea. Completely embarrassed, he stood up straight.

“If you’re not gonna take this seriously, I think I’ll just go.” He said.

“Wait, wait, wait.” She rushed out in front of him to stop him from moving forward. “I’ll take it serious, I promise. I had to tease you a little. I’m done.”

He saw no bad intentions in her eyes

With a sigh he leaned back onto the cabinets.

“I’ll tell you what you need to do.” Raven spoke confidently.

Bellamy let out a short puff of laughter. He should have known Raven would have strong opinions about this.

“Let me start by saying that you could ask her anywhere and anytime. She would say yes no matter what.”

Bellamy rolled his eyes. “That’s not very helpful—“

“However.” She spoke, irritated by his interruption. “If you want to do it right, it shouldn’t come out of nowhere. If it does, she might be shocked and have a bad reaction to it.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You need to start giving her ‘I’m interested’ signals. Let’s say, hypothetically, you want to ask her on a night we all go to the bar. Before you ask, you need to be a little more touchy and flirty with her than you usually would be.”

“I can do that.” He hoped he could do that.

“And make sure to give her lots of attention. Don’t go overboard and crowd her, but let her know she’s on your mind.”

“Should I be taking notes?” He asked only half joking.

Raven rolled her eyes in response. “You need to get a feel for her too. Don’t push it if she seems upset. But if she’s in a good mood, keep flirting until the end of the night.”

“And then what?”

“You need an opportunity where you can be alone with her. Somewhere private. And its best if it happens at the end of the night, that way it doesn’t make the rest of the night awkward.”

“I could offer to walk her home?” He suggested.

He does that often so he knows it wouldn’t make Clarke uncomfortable.

“That’s good. That would work.”

“Okay, so I get to her door and just, what? Ask her out?”

Raven makes a face. “You could do that, but its best if you don’t just spit it out. Start by saying some nice things about her. Talk about how you feel, and let her know why you want to take her out.”

“So be romantic?” He asked.

“If you can.”

Bellamy nodded his head, mostly trying to convince himself.

“And Bellamy?”

“Yeah?”

“I meant what I said earlier. Don’t stress about it too much. Clarke will say yes.”

Bellamy was not so sure about that one.

“Thanks, Raven. By the way, please don’t say anything about this to Clarke.”

“My lips are sealed.”

—

A few days later, Bellamy stepped out of his Uber and into pouring rain. The rain was cold. It was the kind of chilly downpour a late fall would bring.

He shuffled quickly into the bar. He was the first person from his friend group to get there.

He fished his phone out of his back pocket and clicked on the black screen. 8:26 pm. In their group chat, everyone had agreed to meet at the bar around 9:00 pm, but Bellamy couldn’t pace anxiously around his apartment for another second. At least here he could have a drink in his hand to calm him.

Half an hour later, while Bellamy was nursing his first beer, a few of his friends began to pour into the bar and join him at their booth.

He tried his best to greet them like normal.

It was a few minutes later when Clarke walked in. Bellamy’s breath was taken away. She looked beautiful. Her long blond hair cascaded over her shoulders and Bellamy felt a sudden urge to take it into his hands. But he couldn’t do that. At least for now.

The smile on her lips caught his attention. She has the most gorgeous smile he had ever seen. If he could, he would keep it there forever.

Raven strode in confidently behind Clarke. When his eyes met hers she gave him a small thumbs up.

“Hey, Bell.” Clarke spoke when she reached him. God, she looked pretty. He should probably stop staring at her before it got creepy.

“Hi.” He shot her what he hoped was an attractive smirk.

He got out of his seat and ushered her into the booth with a hand on her arm.

When he slid in next to her she was already in conversation with Monty.

Bellamy gulped. He could do this.

“Can I get you a drink?” He interrupted.

“Sure. I’ll take—“

“I know your usual, Clarke.” He winked at her.

Why did he do that? Why did he think that was a good idea? What was wrong with him?

She squinted her eyes.

“Are you feeling okay? You’re acting… different.” Her voice was concerned. She raised the backside of her hand up to his forehead.

Her very soft hand.

Touching him.

He needed to get in control of this situation fast.

“No fever.” She noted clinically.

He circled his fingers gently around her wrist and tugged her hand back down to her lap, letting his fingers linger for a second longer than necessary.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be back with your drink.”

Bellamy rose to his feet and let out a deep breath.

That was bad. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great like he was hoping.

When he reached the bartended, a loud noise filled his ears. He turned his head to see Raven clapping her hands at him sarcastically, slowly shaking her head.

“That was sad.” She informed him.

He barely contained his eye roll.

“I don’t need you to rub it in.”

“I’m not sure what I was expecting from _the_ Bellamy Blake, but that was not it.”

He raised his hand to signal the bartender, ignoring her.

“Did I see you wink at her?” She took a break from teasing him to laugh at his expense. “I cannot wait to tell this story to people. It’ll be so classic.”

“Don’t you have a boyfriend to go annoy?” He lamely tried to insult her. He was pretty off his game tonight.

“Ouch.” She feigned pain, placing a hand over her heart. “That one really hurt.”

She walked off with a laugh.

As annoying as she was being, she wasn’t wrong. Bellamy was not usually like this. He knew how to flirt with girls. He knew how to keep his cool.

Something about Clarke made him a fool. It was probably because he was foolishly in love with her.

When he got back to the booth he placed Clarke’s drink in front of her and sat down. She gave him a grateful smile before turning her attention back to her conversation.

Bellamy cleared his throat before making his next move.

He casually stretched his arm directly behind her, draping it over the edge of the seat. He received a strange look from Harper, but no one else seemed to notice.

Half an hour later she was leaning into him a little. Bellamy sat there listening to her speak. Her voice was so soothing.

He had made a few attempts to engage in conversations, but it was pointless. He was far too distracted by his current situation.

All he could think of was how perfectly Clarke molded into his side.

If anyone who didn’t know them passed by, they would probably assume Clarke and he were in a relationship.

He gulped at that thought.

He noticed her drink was reaching it’s end.

“You need another?” He asked gently.

Before she could even open her mouth, Murphy was shouting across the table.

“I could use another. Thanks for asking.” He drawled.

Suddenly, everyone was shouting out what they wanted him to get them. Bellamy really hated Murphy.

Clarke sent him a look of pity.

“I’ll come help you carry drinks.” She offered. Maybe he didn’t hate Murphy.

As they walked over Bellamy gingerly placed a hand between her shoulder blades to guide her through the crowd.

But he knew that wasn’t enough.

A hand between the shoulder blades was very friendly. There was no implication in it.

Slowly, he dragged his hand down to the small of her back, farther down than he had ever touched before. His heart raced.

As they reached the bar, the bartender noticed her immediately.

“What can I get for you, sweetheart?” He spoke lazily in a husky voice.

Bellamy narrowed his eyes at the nickname. A small wave of relief flushed through him when he noticed Clarke looked equally annoyed.

The large crowd had already forced Bellamy to stand close to Clarke, but he squared his shoulders and stepped forward another inch, indicating to the bartender that he was there with her. And if the bartended wanted to make assumptions about the two of them grabbing drinks together, who was Bellamy to stop him?

As she impressively rattled off a mental list of everyone’s drinks, Bellamy focused on the heat she was giving off.

His body was pressed to hers, his right shoulder directly behind her left shoulder, and his hand moved from the small of her back to the curve other waist.

Her scent overwhelmed him.

When the bartender walked away, he reached the hand that was not resting on her waist over and pinched the sleeve of her sweater between his fingers, feeling the fabric.

“Where’d you get this sweater? It’s so soft.”

“Why? You looking to buy one for yourself?” She teased.

Here goes nothing, he thought.

“No. I couldn’t compete with the way you look in it. I’d just embarrass myself.”

A bit of confusion filled her eyes, followed by what looked like tentative realization.

“Well I’ve yet to see you wear something you don’t look good in, so I’m sure you could make this sweater work.” She complimented.

His heart soared.

“We could always—“

“There’s the last drink.” The bartender interrupted with a grin, placing the final drink on the tray in front of them.

Clarke thanked him kindly while Bellamy shot him a glare.

When they got back to the booth everyone had shifted seats, which only left spots open on opposite ends of the booth. Bellamy cursed under is breath.

It was okay, though. He could work with this, give her a bit of space like Raven suggested.

Bellamy’s good attitude quickly wore off as he spent the next hour sulking in his seat and ignoring Finn’s not-so-subtle attempts to start arguments with him.

Soon, though, before the night had even really started, Bellamy saw Clarke pick up her phone and her eyes dawned in realization.

She grabbed her purse, said something to Raven, and then gave her a quick hug.

“You heading out?” He asked, suddenly looking for an excuse to be leaving at the same exact time as her that wouldn’t see obvious.

“Yeah, I have to work early tomorrow.”

“I actually have to be up early too. I should head out now. Want to share an Uber?”

“Yeah.” She smiled.

Bellamy’s apartment was only a few blocks from Clarke’s. It wasn’t uncommon for them to ride home together.

Bellamy ordered a car on his phone.

As they waited outside under the overhang from the building, rain poured down around them.

When the car came they sped into the back seat.

Clarke was quiet. She seemed tired. Her eyes were closed and her head leaned back.

Bellamys mind wandered to what it would be like to sleep next to her. To watch her wake up in the mornings. He got lost in his day dream.

Next thing he knew, they were pulling up to Clarke’s apartment building and exiting the car with a polite ‘thank you’ to the driver.

“I can walk you up.” Bellamy offered, shoving his hands into his front pockets.

“That’s okay. You already have to walk to your place, you shouldn’t have to take me all the way up.”

Always thinking about others. He loved that about her.

“I want to.”

“Okay. But only because you want to.”

He smiled at his small victory.

In the elevator, both his sleepiness and the alcohol in his veins began to fade. He was left with his nerves.

They walked to her door in comfortable silence. She pulled out her keys and brought them to the lock, but he gently grabbed her hand, pulling it away from the lock, and then released it.

He bored his eyes into hers, hoping to convey his emotions.

“Clarke, I…” He trailed off, not able to get the words out. Why was he so nervous? He’s done this a hundred times before.

“Sorry.” He said lamely, frustrated with himself.

Clarke looked at him, concerned.

“Bellamy—“

“You’re my best friend.” He interrupted.

Her eyebrows creased deeply on her forehead.

“How much did you drink tonight?”

He ignored her question before taking a deep breath.

Eyes aimed at the floor, he started.

“I think about you all the time.”

She seemed stunned to silence. He moved his eyes to meet hers as he said the next words.

“Actually, I can’t stop thinking about you. I think you’re beautiful and amazing. You’re the funniest person I know and somehow also the smartest. I love being you’re best friend and I never want that to end, no matter how you feel about me. But sometimes I wonder if I could be your best friend and something else at the same time. So, I…”

He paused before he said the actual words.

“I’m sorry, I’m probably making this terrible awkward but… Can I take you out on a date?”

Her lips parted at his words.

He waited for a second, but she didn’t speak. Bellamy’s cheeks began to heat from shame and embarrassment. She was probably trying to figure out how to let him down east. Oh, god. Why did he do this?

”I mean.” He tried to recover. “It’s totally okay if you don’t want to. We can just forget I earn even asked and—“

“Yes.”

He blinked at her words.

“Yes?”

“Yes.” She repeated breathily but confidently.

Bellamy’s heart soared, but he had to clarify.

“Uhh, just for clarity’s sake, ‘yes’ you’d like to go on a date or ‘yes’ you’d like to forget I ever asked?”

“Yes, I’d love to go on a date with you.” She said sweetly, almost shyly.

Bellamy couldn’t help it. His face broke into a full smile.

“Okay, awesome.” He said, barely containing his excitement. He wanted to scream his joy from a rooftop.

He couldn’t believe it. She said yes. Clarke Griffin said yes to a date with him. He was going on a date with Clarke Griffin. If all goes well, Clarke Griffin may end up being his girlfriend.

“I will text you.” He said. “Or, better yet, I’ll call you. And we can pick a day.”

“That sound good.” She said, pushing a loose tendril of hair behind her ear.

“Okay. Goodnight.”

She put her keys in her door and opened it.

“Bellamy?” She said before she walked into her apartment.

“Yeah?”

She leaned up and joined her soft lips with his cheek in a brief kiss. And, he’s not exaggerating, it may have been the best kiss he’d ever had.

“Thanks for walking me to my door. Goodnight.”

With that she shut her apartment door.

Bellamy had to resist from pumping his fist in the air. He couldn’t keep the wide smile off his face.

The people he passed on the street probably thought he was crazy.

But he didn’t care. He would smile all he wanted.

He was going on a date with Clarke Griffin.


End file.
